Biles' next challenge

Simone Biles’ next challenge is sustaining excellence

Aside from a fall in the beam, her final event, Simone Biles had a spectacular run through the Proctor and Gamble Championships. She easily won the national title with a vault and floor exercise that defied gravity. She is not just one of the best gymnasts in the United States. She is the reigning world champion, and is on pace to win the title again in October.

But in gymnastics, it’s always important to keep the calendar in mind. The Rio Olympics are in less than two years, but the sport isn’t known for long careers. Injuries and burnout are common.

Biles isn’t the first American gymnast to dominate the middle of an Olympic cycle.

Training at the same gym as 2004 all-around champion Carly Patterson and 2008 all-around champion Nastia Liukin, Rebecca Bross was the heir apparent. She won six medals in the 2009 and 2010 world championships, and won the all-around at the national championships two years in a row.

Bross had the skill and the coaching, but an injury on the vault at the 2011 national championships kept from competing in 2011. She came back in time for the 2012 Olympic trials, but never got back to the competitor she was.

2006 was the year of Jana Bieger. She took three silvers at the world championships, including one in the all-around that was controversially won by Italy’s Vanessa Ferrari. In 2007, she injured her ankle, and didn’t make the worlds team after a poor showing at nationals. Though she was named an alternate to the 2008 Olympic team, she didn’t compete.

Biles is at the top of the gymnastics world right now, and she has earned that spot. Her toughest feat now is not mastering a new skill on the beam or adding difficulty to her second vault. It’s learning from the experiences of those who went before her, and holding onto that top spot.

“Olympic gold medal-winning gymnast Gabby Douglas took part in her first workout with coach Liang Chow, the renowned leader of Chow’s Gymnastics and Dance Institute, for the first time since last August. Douglas, who twice won gold at the London Games, had moved to California to be closer to family. She went through drills Monday with Chow.”